Off Piste Snow Report – N French Alps – week commencing Saturday 10th Jan: Highly Unstable Off-Piste Conditions after Massive Fresh Snowfall !

Much-needed fresh snow has significantly boosted snow depths and revived off-piste conditions! But also an extremely unstable snowpack…. 

We’re currently in the middle of a significant snowstorm in the tail end of storm Goretti, with 3 consecutive days of snowfall from Thursday, 8th January 8th through to the early hours of Sunday, January 11th. By the time this storm ends, many areas will have picked up around a meter of new snow, which is excellent news after much of the Alps has gone nearly a month without snowfall (aside from a few exceptions around Piedmont in Italy).

But here’s a key warning:  that long dry spell came with clear nights and cold temperatures, which transformed the existing snowpack into a very weak, sugary structure of ‘faceted snow grains’ in many places. On its own, that ‘sugary’ snow wasn’t necessarily a problem – but with this much new snow loading on top of it, the situation becomes exceptionally unstable.

We’re dealing with a persistent weak layer beneath all this fresh snow. That means a highly dangerous avalanche situation, especially on steep slopes, but also in places where avalanches are not normally expected. Slopes that rarely slide may now avalanche, including areas with moderate to sparse tree cover.

This is a warning for most of the Alps receiving this snowfall, and particularly for regions that haven’t seen snow for some time.

You’ll hear people say, “There’s a weak layer every year.”   That’s true, but every year is different. This year’s weak layer is exceptionally unstable and persistent.

As conditions clear on Sunday morning, 11th January, please exercise extreme caution.  The temptation will be for people to charge off-piste, in a very probable powder frenzy. Take it easy, go for the easy to access ‘low hanging fruit’ moderately steep (less than 30° steepeness) areas to start… and maybe just stay in those ‘no risk zones’.

Have fun—but most importantly, stay safe!

Weather forecast : Sat 10th to Wed 15th Jan

Weather has now switched from a cold northerly flow with stable sunny weather but very cold, to an Atlantic weather system with westerly less cold weather.  Next week will see much milder temperatures than recently but a mix of grey and sunny weather. It will be cold enough to keep the snow fresh on North facing slopes (where the most serious instability is – on steep N facing slopes).

SATURDAY 10th: Wintry conditions. Snowfall, which has been continuous since early Thursday morning, will continue  right down into the valleys (down to 400 metres), although it remains fairly light there. Another 15 to 25 cm of fresh snow expected above 1300 m (on top of the previous 2 days’ fresh snowfall). Snowfall will become lighter in the afternoon, and should stop completely by the middle to end of the following night.

SUNDAY 12th: Clearer conditions. The cloud cover breaks up quickly, leaving only scattered cloud remnants early in the morning  and sunshine dominates. It becomes only lightly veiled by thin high clouds during the afternoon. This will be the first day of good visibility after all the fresh snowfall, and the one where everyone will be wanting to hit the powder. In other words, a probable powder frenzy. Please exercise extreme caution. Take it easy, make conservative choices, and remember: the snowpack will take time to adjust.

MONDAY 13th:  Low-level cloud, lifting as the day goes on. Temperatures a lot milder than of late

TUESDAY 14th & WEDNESDAY 15th: Conditions continue to become milder, but the weather remains dry and sunshine largely dominates, with a few high-level clouds.

Have fun—but most importantly, stay safe!

…and check out the HAT Prevention Card with a ‘quick reference’ of the key accident reduction points.

It contains a score card scale to help you reference the potential danger for a given slope on a given day, and more info like definitions of the danger scale. 

Watch the FREE  Pocket Prevention Guide on Video  for a step-by-step explanation of how to use it.